Life

12 Halloween Struggles You'll Only Appreciate If You Were A '90s Kid

by Megan Grant
Walt Disney Pictures

Halloween as a kid was always unforgettable: you remember every costume, every party, and the way the houses on your block decorated their yards. But there were also the many Halloween struggles all '90s kids knew, because life wasn't always a cakewalk, even in the '90s, AKA the greatest decade in the history of the universe. We had our problems, just like everyone else — going house-to-house in unfavorable weather, costumes gone awry, out-of-control candy consumption... There was a lot of pressure involved on Halloween night.

It's an acquired skill really — finding the delicate balance between the Halloween movie that's just scary enough without keeping you up at night, knowing when to cut yourself off from the next box of Milk Duds, selecting the homes that you knew were packing the best candy in the neighborhood... It took you years to perfect these skills; you didn't just wake up this awesome.

But such talent doesn't come without its weaknesses, and no Halloween was totally perfect. While the good outweighed the bad, and you mainly remember the haunted houses, pizza parties, and costume contests (which you won one year, thank you very much), there were still those struggles that all '90s kids were well acquainted with.

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1

Trick-Or-Treating In The Rain

It was cold and wet, but you refused to wear a jacket because it would ruin your costume; so you'd suck it up and pray you didn't get pneumonia. Priorities!

2

Wearing A Sticky, Sweaty Mask

You committed to this, and you refused to back out like some L7 weenie. But sweet lord, it started to smell so awful in there. That's what you got for dressing as Freddy Krueger — although the iconic striped cardigan did help keep you warm.

3

Carrying Around A Heavy Bucket Full Of Candy

It was really hard being so good at trick-or-treating. By the end of the night, your poor little hands were so sore from hauling around an overstuffed McDonald's Halloween bucket; but you always knew Halloween wasn't for the faint of heart.

4

The Inevitable Sugar Coma

Your parents tried relentlessly to warn you. You knew it was coming, but that didn't stop you from shoving another KitKat in your mouth. Halloween comes but once a year — go big or go home.

5

Having The Same Costume As Someone Else

Seriously, go home. Just go home. There's nothing worse than this. You planned all year and then they had the nerve to show up wearing the same thing? So not okay.

6

That Neighbor Who Passed Out Pennies

What were you supposed to do with pennies? It was never enough to go buy candy, which is what you should've gotten in the first place. How inconvenient. Neighbors are the worst sometimes.

7

Or Worse, Healthy Food

Stop trying to make healthy Halloween treats happen. It's not going to happen. There were always those neighbors who handed out fruit or bran muffins or juice boxes. Let's get real: where's the chocolate?

8

Half-Open Candy Your Mom Made You Throw Out

This was obligatory: after every Halloween night outing, she'd make you dump your bag on the floor and she'd comb through everything looking for anything even slightly suspicious — like wrappers that may have been tampered with. You lost quite a few bite-size Snickers to this kind of behavior.

9

Trying To Carve A Cute Pumpkin That Ended Up Looking Like An Ambiguous Blob

You were pretty sure that perfectly carved pumpkins were a Halloween myth, like Bloody Mary or Slender Man. Nobody has ever carved a cute pumpkin.

10

Anyone In A Clown Costume

No. All kinds of no. Clowns have never been okay. How were any parents on board with this?

11

Rubbing Your Eyes And Accidentally Smearing Your Face Makeup

You'd totally forget you had your whole face painted yellow to try to look more like Bart Simpson — that is, until you rubbed your eyes and noticed your hands were covered in face paint. Epic fail.

12

When Halloween Was Over

You waited a year for this day to roll around, and it was over in the blink of an eye. There were two silver linings, though: discounted candy that hit the shelves at the store the next day, and the Christmas decorations that almost immediately went up.